JOHNSTOWN - Four men accused of raping a woman outside a Gloversville bar in the early morning hours of May 16 were acquitted Friday, capping an emotional two-week trial in Fulton County Court.
As court Clerk Ingrid Edwards read each defendant's name and charges, and jury foreman Jim Ermie told the courtroom that each of the individual defendants was found not guilty, defendants' family members bent over, overcome with emotion. Gloversville resident Tyson Stratton, 30, one of the four men accused, buried his face in his hands as his attorney, Heidi Gifford, put her arm around him.
Tears also ran down the cheeks of LaTerence "Texas Toast" Wilson, 24, of Gloversville, who was the last of the four to hear his fate.
"I'm just overjoyed and overwhelmed," said Sharon DeVeaux, who is the mother of Schenectady defendants Michael "Skitso" DeVeaux Jr., 20, and Ezequial "Hoodie" Rouse, 27, of Schenectady. "I'm happy that justice prevailed and God saw there was no evidence."
Before the verdict was read, family members of the defendants had been singing songs of prayer, which had reverberated throughout the courtroom. The accuser's family members sat on the other side of the courtroom.
The 32-year-old woman had accused the four men of raping her in an alley outside of Quig's tavern earlier this year. The defendants had been charged with two counts of criminal sexual act-one for oral sexual acts, the other for anal sexual acts-and one count of unlawful imprisonment.
The woman's family members walked out of the courtroom angrily, tears streaming down some of their faces.
"You know how many people have been raped and don't come forward?" said the ex-girlfriend of the accuser as she got into her car to leave. The ex-girlfriend testified at the trial. "This is why. They made her look terrible in the courtroom."
Ermie said there were times when the jury was clearly split, and said there were times when it was contentious inside the deliberation room. At 3 p.m. Friday, he said, he had not thought the jury would reach a verdict, and at 5 p.m., jurors requested that Judge Richard C. Giardino allow them to go home so they could resume deliberations on Monday.
Giardino, though, said at the time he would prefer the jury reach a verdict Friday, because he did not want them to be influenced by reading newspapers or by talking to others over the weekend. The jury then came back into the courtroom at approximately 8 p.m. with its decision.
"On behalf of the jury, we feel confident that we have reached the only verdict as directed by law," Ermie said.
The defendants were escorted to the Fulton County Jail by sheriff's deputies after the verdict was read. After they returned there, DeVeaux and Stratton were free to be released to their families. Wilson and Rouse have other minor legal matters pending against them, so they will be in jail slightly longer, but their lawyers said they are expected to be released within the next week.
Outside the courtroom, the mood was joyful, as the defendants' attorneys came out of a meeting with jurors to greet family members.
All four defendants had separate attorneys. They said they were pleased the jury had followed the law, and said the decision was proof there had not been enough evidence to convict any of their clients.
"They could place them at the scene, but they couldn't prove anything else," Gifford said. "Being present at a bar isn't evidence of rape."
The lawyers said there were plenty of nervewracking moments and said they were never entirely confident they would win the case. But DeVeaux's attorney, James Milstein, said the case showed the criminal justice system is largely successful.
Giardino, before the verdict was read, had noted that rape trials are always emotionally charged, and warned visitors to not overreact when the verdict was read.
But this case had even more explosive potential. The accuser is a lesbian, and because of that, the indictment against the four men cast the incident as a hate crime. The four defendants are black, and the jury was made up of 12 white men and women.
"There was a lot of concern from people ... as to whether a person of color could get a fair trial in Fulton County," Milstein said. "It says a great deal for the people of Fulton County that the issue of race did not enter into this case at all."
Gifford said Stratton was eternally grateful.
"He said, 'I have my life back,'" she said, recalling what he told her as the verdict was handed down. "He has children, and this was huge to him because he wants to get back his life and his children."
The defendants' family members stood in the courtroom for some time, hugging one another and praying.
Janice Rouse, who is DeVeaux and Rouse's aunt, picked up her cell phone to call her mother-DeVeaux and Rouse's grandmother.
"Your grandsons are coming home tonight," she said into the receiver. "Thank you God. Thank you Jesus."